Ms C A Charlton v Active Cleaning Limited HELD in Sheffield (attended) — 2021

The tribunal found that Ms Charlton was dismissed and that the effective date of termination was 2 October 2020. The unfair dismissal complaint succeeded; the respondent resisted liability only on the basis that there had been no dismissal. The tribunal also found that the dismissal was in breach of contract because the respondent failed to give notice or make a payment in lieu, so the claimant was wrongfully dismissed. The complaint about failure to provide written reasons for dismissal failed.

At remedy, Employment Judge Little accepted that the claimant had mitigated her loss, having made job search efforts and being unable to increase her hours with another employer. The judge also accepted that family problems had inhibited her ability to obtain new employment. Because the wrongful dismissal claim succeeded, the period for immediate loss on the unfair dismissal claim started two weeks after termination, and the future loss element was limited to 12 weeks rather than the 26 weeks sought.

The tribunal awarded a basic award of £353.16 and a compensatory award of £6,492.80 for unfair dismissal. It also awarded £235.44 for two weeks' notice pay on the wrongful dismissal claim and £52.99 for accrued but untaken holiday pay. The Recoupment Regulations did not apply. The compensatory award included a 25% uplift under section 207A of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 because the respondent had adopted no procedure before dismissal, and the Polkey principle was rejected because no fair procedure had been identified that could have made the dismissal fair.